Deshraj moves court for bail

Nearly two weeks after special CBI court in Chandigarh dismissed the bail plea of suspended superintendent of police (city) Deshraj Singh in a graft case, he approached Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday for bail.

A bench headed by justice Paramjeet Singh issued notice of motion to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file its reply by December 12.

In his petition in the high court, Deshraj submitted that "the recovery of the alleged bribe money has been planted upon the petitioner. The alleged recovery is shown from the drawer of the table."

The court was told that no recovery was affected from the IPS officer to connect him with the commission of crime and no money was recovered from his possession.

Deshraj Singh submitted that he had been falsely implicated at the instance of Anokh Singh in connivance with local police officials with malafide intention of harassing him. He said that the entire recorded conversation nowhere revealed that any illegal gratification was demanded by the petitioner for any corrupt practice in discharge of his official duty.

The IPS officer also argued that the transcripts of telephonic talks between him and Anokh Singh on October 12, 15 and 18 were "incomplete" at various places and thus unreliable. "An admission by a person, whether amounting to a confession or not, cannot be split up and part of it used against him," he contended.

Deshraj pointed out that SHO Anokh Singh was facing a departmental inquiry initiated on the basis of special report submitted by him as the then SP to the Chandigarh SSP, based on documentary record.

So, the question of favouring the CBI complainant in the departmental inquiry in which the petitioner had already submitted the special report did not arise at all, Deshraj said.

The IPS officer also added that no shadow witness was involved when the CBI laid a trap on the petitioner, which is mandatory. The court was also apprised that neither there was independent corroboration of the story propounded by the prosecution nor any independent witness to corroborate the alleged version of complainant regarding telephonic talks that allegedly took place between complainant Anokh Singh and petitioner Deshraj when the former went to the IPS officer's house allegedly to give bribe money.

The petitioner also told the high court that his ailing minor daughter Kunjal Singh, aged around 4, was getting regular treatment from Nanavati hospital, Mumbai, and was scheduled to undergo an operation on December 3. There was no other male member in the family to take care of her, the IPS officer told the court.

The special CBI court had dismissed Deshraj's bail application on November 9 after the central agency contended that the suspended IPS officer could influence investigations in case he was bailed out.

Deshraj was arrested from his Sector 23 residence by CBI on October 18 on charge of accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from Sector 26 police station SHO Anokh Singh. Anokh Singh had approached the central agency on October 15, alleging that Deshraj had demanded Rs 5 lakh from him to exonerate him from departmental inquiries initiated on the SP's complaint. However, the SHO claimed, the deal was closed for Rs 2 lakh.